1994 FIFA World Cup qualification

Last updated

1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates21 March 1992 – 17 November 1993
Teams147 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played497
Goals scored1,446 (2.91 per match)
Top scorer(s) Flag of Japan.svg Kazuyoshi Miura
(13 goals)
← 1990
1998 →

The 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 1994 FIFA World Cup featured 24 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, United States, and one place for the defending champions, Germany. The remaining 22 places were determined by a qualification process, in which 147 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.

Contents

Fifteen teams withdrew: Liechtenstein, Cuba, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Myanmar and Western Samoa, and three teams were excluded: Yugoslavia and Libya due to UN sanctions, and Chile for the El Maracanazo cheating incident during 1990 qualification.

A total of 130 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 497 qualifying matches were played, and 1446 goals were scored (an average of 2.91 per match). [1]

The first qualification match, between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, was played on 21 March 1992, and the Puerto Rican forward Marcos Lugris scored the first goal in qualification. [2] Qualification ended on 17 November 1993, when European qualification ended and the OFC–CONMEBOL play-off match was played. Eighteen of FIFA's twenty-four top-ranked countries eventually qualified. [3]

Qualified teams

.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Country qualified for World Cup Country failed to qualify Country did not enter World Cup Country not a FIFA member 1994 world cup qualification.png
  Country qualified for World Cup
  Country failed to qualify
  Country did not enter World Cup
  Country not a FIFA member

[4] [5]

TeamMethod of

qualification

Date of

qualification

Finals

appearance

StreakPrevious best

performance

 FIFA Ranking [lower-alpha 1]
Flag of the United States.svg  United States Hosts4 July 19885th2Third place (1930)27
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Defending champions8 July 199013th [lower-alpha 2] 11Winners (1954, 1974, 1990) [lower-alpha 3] 3
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico CONCACAF Final Round Winners9 May 199310th1 (Last: 1986)Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)17
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece UEFA Group 5 Winners23 May 19931st1–32
Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Russia UEFA Group 5 Runners-up2 June 19938th [lower-alpha 4] 4Fourth place (1966)14
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia CONMEBOL Group A Winners5 September 19933rd2Round of 16 (1990)21
Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia CONMEBOL Group B Runners-up19 September 19933rd1 (Last: 1950)Group stage (1930, 1950)59
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil CONMEBOL Group B Winners19 September 199315th15Winners (1958, 1962, 1970)4
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria CAF Final Round Group A Winners8 October 19931st1–16
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon CAF Final Round Group C Winners10 October 19933rd2Quarter-finals (1990)24
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco CAF Final Round Group B Winners10 October 19933rd1 (Last: 1986)Round of 16 (1986)30
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway UEFA Group 2 Winners13 October 19932nd1 (Last: 1938)Round of 16 (1938)5
Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  South Korea AFC Final Round Runners-up28 October 19934th3Group stage (1954, 1986, 1990)39
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia AFC Final Round Winners28 October 19931st1–38
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden UEFA Group 6 Winners13 October 19939th2Runners-up (1958)11
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium UEFA Group 4 Runners-up17 November 19939th4Fourth place (1986)22
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria UEFA Group 6 Runners-up17 November 19936th1 (Last: 1986)Round of 16 (1986)23
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy UEFA Group 1 Winners17 November 199313th9Winners (1934, 1938, 1982)1
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands UEFA Group 2 Runners-up17 November 19936th2Runners-up (1974, 1978)2
Flag of Ireland.svg  Republic of Ireland UEFA Group 3 Runners-up17 November 19932nd2Quarter finals (1990)13
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania UEFA Group 4 Winners17 November 19936th2Round of 16 (1934, 1938, 1990)12
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain UEFA Group 3 Winners17 November 19939th5Fourth place (1950)7
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland UEFA Group 1 Runners-up17 November 19937th1 (Last: 1966)Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)9
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina Inter-confederation play-off Winners17 November 199311th6Winners (1978, 1986)9
  1. ↑ The rankings are shown as of 19 November 1993. These are the rankings used for the final draw. [6]
  2. ↑ This is the 3rd appearance of Germany at the FIFA World Cup. However, FIFA considers West Germany's results as Germany's.
  3. ↑ Germany's best result is third place in 1934. However, FIFA considers West Germany's results as Germany's.
  4. ↑ This is the 1st appearance of Russia at the FIFA World Cup. However, FIFA considers Russia as the successor team of the USSR.

Qualification process

Madison Square Garden in New York City hosted the qualification draw Madisonsquaregarden.jpg
Madison Square Garden in New York City hosted the qualification draw

The draw was made in New York on 8 December 1991 at Madison Square Garden. [7]

For the first time, three teams qualified from the African zone, because of its performance in the previous tournament. The 24 spots available in the 1994 World Cup were distributed among the continental zones as follows:

UEFA, AFC and CAF have a guaranteed number of places, whereas the number of qualifiers from other confederations is dependent on play-offs between OFC's first-placed team and CONCACAF's second-placed team and the winner of this fixture against CONMEBOL's fourth-placed team.

After the first round of 1994 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the round of 16 was as follows: [8]

Summary of qualification

FIFAmembers.png
ConfederationTeams startedTeams that secured qualificationTeams that were eliminatedTotal places in finalsQualifying start dateQualifying end date
AFC 2922728 April 199328 October 1993
CAF 4033739 October 199210 October 1993
CONCACAF 22+11+1211+121 March 199215 August 1993
CONMEBOL 945418 July 199317 November 1993
OFC 70707 June 199217 November 1993
UEFA [lower-alpha 1] 38+112+12612+122 April 199217 November 1993
Total145+222+212322+221 March 199217 November 1993
  1. ↑ Israel did not become a full member of UEFA until 1994, but competed in European qualification in the run-up to membership.

Tiebreakers

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations. If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by:

  1. goal difference in all group matches
  2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a home-and-away knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to the next round. In the event that aggregate scores finish level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs progresses. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team qualifies by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.

Confederation qualification

AFC

Qualification for AFC teams consisted of two rounds. Round one saw the teams divided into 6 groups, each team playing the others in their group twice. The winner of each group then went into a final group where they played each other once.

The qualification process began with 29 national teams vying for two spots. Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic qualified. [1]

Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1994 World Cup

Final positions (final round)

RankTeamPldPts
1Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia 57
2Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  South Korea 56
3Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 56
4Flag of Iraq (1991-2004).svg  Iraq 55
5Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 54
6Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 52

CAF

Qualification for CAF teams also consisted of two rounds. Round one saw the teams divided into 9 groups, each team playing the others in their group twice. The winners of these groups then went into three final groups where they played each other twice.

The qualification process began with 40 national teams vying for three spots. Nigeria, Morocco and Cameroon qualified. [1]

Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1994 World Cup

Final positions (final round)

Group A
TeamPldPts
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 45
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 45
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 42
Group B
TeamPldPts
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 46
Flag of Zambia (1964-1996).svg  Zambia 45
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 41
Group C
TeamPldPts
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 46
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 44
Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea 42

CONCACAF

There were three rounds of play for CONCACAF teams. Mexico and Canada received byes and advanced to the second round directly. The remaining teams were divided into Caribbean and Central American zones. In the Caribbean zone, 14 teams played in knockout matches on a home-and-away basis to determine three winners advancing to the second round. In the Central American zone, the six teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners advanced to the second round.

In the second round, the eight teams were divided into two groups of four teams each. They played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the final round.

In the final round, the four teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner qualified. The runner-up advanced to the CONCACAF–OFC intercontinental play-off. Mexico took the guaranteed spot and Canada qualified for the play-off. [1]

Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1994 World Cup
Countries that advanced to the CONCACAF–OFC play-off

Final positions (final round)

RankTeamPldPts
1Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 610
2Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 67
3Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador 64
4Flag of Honduras (1949-2022).svg  Honduras 63

CONMEBOL

Nine CONMEBOL teams entered the competition (Chile was banned by FIFA due to the 1989 Maracanazo incident). The nine teams were divided into two groups. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. Group A had one guaranteed place and one play-off spot, while Group B had two spots for the finals. Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia qualified automatically and Argentina qualified for the play-off. [1]

Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1994 World Cup
Countries that advanced to the CONCACAF/OFC–CONMEBOL play-off

Final positions (group stage)

Group A
TeamPldPts
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 610
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 67
Flag of Paraguay (1990-2013).svg  Paraguay 66
Flag of Peru (state).svg  Peru 61
Group B
TeamPldPts
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 812
Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia 811
Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 810
Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 85
Flag of Venezuela (1930-1954).svg  Venezuela 82

OFC

Qualification for OFC teams consisted of two rounds. Seven teams entered initially and were divided into two groups, but Western Samoa withdrew. The two group winners then played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner advanced to the CONCACAF–OFC intercontinental play-off. Australia won the tie and advanced. [1]

Second round

Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
New Zealand  Flag of New Zealand.svg0–4Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 0–1 0–3

UEFA

38 were initially involved in UEFA qualifying, but Liechtenstein withdrew and Yugoslavia was suspended.

The thirty-six teams were divided into six groups: one group of five teams, four groups of six teams each, and one group of seven teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up qualified.

Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Romania, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Sweden, and Bulgaria all qualified. [1]

Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1994 World Cup

Final positions (group stage)

Inter-confederation play-offs

For the first time ever, there were two rounds of play in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams from CONCACAF and OFC first played each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner then played against the team from CONMEBOL on a home-and-away basis. The winner qualified.

Bracket

First round Second round
          
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 213 (1)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (p)123 (4)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 101
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 112

First round: CONCACAF v OFC

Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Canada  Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg3–3 (1–4 p)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 2–1 1–2 (a.e.t.)

Second round: OFC v CONMEBOL

Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg1–2Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 1–1 0–1

Top goalscorers

13 goals
9 goals
8 goals

Related Research Articles

The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) – was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In 2001 FIFA ended automatic qualification of the reigning champion, so that 2002 champions Brazil became first to participate in the qualifying tournament. The hosts (Germany) retained their automatic spot.

The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. 199 teams entered the tournament qualification rounds, competing for 32 spots in the final tournament. South Korea and Japan, as the co-hosts, and France, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition.

A total of 107 teams entered the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, which began with the preliminary qualification draw on 20 November 1975 at Guatemala City. Argentina, as the hosts, and West Germany, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

121 teams entered the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for 24 places in the final tournament. Mexico, as the hosts, and Italy, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 22 spots open for competition. The draw took place on 7 December 1983 in Zürich, Switzerland.

The qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of African Football (CAF), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 24 places at the tournament. A total of 116 teams entered the competition, with Italy, as the host, and Argentina, as the holders, qualifying for the final tournament automatically.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. 174 teams entered the qualification rounds, while two places were reserved for France and Brazil as host nation and defending champions, respectively.

Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) – was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 205 teams entered the qualification competition, with South Africa, as the host, qualifying for the World Cup automatically. The first qualification matches were played on 25 August 2007 and qualification concluded on 18 November 2009. Overall, 2,338 goals were scored over 852 matches, scoring on average 2.74 per match.

The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process saw 48 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 12 places in the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup finals. The places were divided as follows:

The qualification process for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 54 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 11 places in the tournament's finals. Sweden qualified automatically as hosts. The places were divided as follows:

The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided the 15 teams which played at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the host China initially qualified automatically as the host nation. The qualification process for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 99 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 16 places in the tournament's finals. The places were divided as follows:

The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by a qualification process, in which the other 207 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.

The OFC qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw teams of the Oceania Football Confederation competing for a place in the finals held in Brazil.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 remaining FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process, and for the first time in World Cup history, all eligible national teams registered for the preliminary competition, but Zimbabwe and Indonesia were disqualified before playing their first matches. Bhutan, South Sudan, Gibraltar and Kosovo made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts, while Myanmar participated after successfully appealing against a ban from the competition, although the team was obliged to play its home matches outside the country.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification</span> International football competition

The qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup determined which 23 teams joined Canada, the hosts of the 2015 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup.

Association football is one of the popular sports in Oceania, and 2 members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the men's FIFA World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2026 FIFA World Cup qualification</span> International football competition

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the teams that will join hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided all 24 teams which played in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the hosts France qualifying automatically. It is the eighth FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football world championship tournament. The tournament is the third to be hosted in Europe, after the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)</span> International football competition

The Asian section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup for national teams of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). AFC teams have been allocated eight direct qualifying slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot.

The North, Central American and Caribbean section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as the qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). Three direct slots and two inter-confederation play-off slots in the final tournament were available for CONCACAF teams.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. 27 July 2007. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "World Cup 1994 qualifications". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  3. ↑ Stokkermans, Karel; Jarreta, Sergio Henrique (9 June 2016). "World Cup 1994 Qualifying". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. 27 July 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Smyth, Rob (15 February 2012). "The forgotten story of … 17 November 1993". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "The FIFA World Ranking November 1993". FIFA.com. 19 November 1993. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  7. ↑ Holden, Stephen (11 September 1991). "New Paramount Theater to Give Radio City a Run for Its Music". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "1994 FIFA World Cup USA". FIFA.com. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.